Skateboard park would have been used

September 18, 2012

As I write this letter I am so angry I can hardly type. I want the community to know that the skateboard park is much appreciated and was used whenever the powers that be allowed it to be open, which has been pretty much none of the past three years. When the grant was given to Lake Placid for the skatepark equipment, only the school would allow it on its property. Neither the village nor the town wanted anything to do with it, except Shirley Seney, who worked hard to get the money for it. It was agreed that the park would be placed on school property, but the town would budget money yearly to provide supervision. About three years ago, they began forgetting to put it in the budget, which led to the park being locked up.

The location was never good. It should be on the oval or the in the hockey box since it is not used in the same season. If it was located where it could be seen and noticed, there would be no need for supervision. Every ski-oriented tourist area that I have been to in Vermont, New Hampshire, California, Colorado and Utah has a skatepark. They don't have supervisors because the parks are part of bigger park facilities or in the middle of town, where there are plenty of people enjoying all kinds of activities. It would be a big hit with tourists, too (since that's all our local governments seem to care about). Information on the local skatepark is one of the first things we try to find out when vacationing.

I doubt my letter will make any difference, but I want people to know that the park would be used if it wasn't padlocked shut. It would be nice if Lake Placid thought as much of their youth as Saranac Lake apparently does.